CHILDHOOD CLASS-11 SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION

In this poem , the poet , Markus Natten wonders when and where he lost his childhood. In his quest to find the moment when he grew  up , Markus highlights the innocence and faith he lost even as he gained rational individuality.

SUMMARY

The poet Markus Natten wonders when did he lose the innocence of his childhood. He is perhaps sad that ; step by step he has lost that innocence and its place has been filled by a foolish craze   for individuality ; the so called rationalism and the hypocrisy . Childhood is a special period in everyone's life . Once gone , never comes back . He thinks of a few stages in his life time , when there was a change in his thoughts and perception of the world around him . The poet thinks of the place where his childhood has gone . Here , he has no doubt that he can find it hidden in the innocence of an infant.

Feelings of Rationalism

The poet is surprised at which point of life he ceased to be a child . He asks himself if it was when he entered the twelfth year of his life or perhaps it was when he became sensible enough to realize that Hell and Heaven are not to be found in geography and so they must be fragments of imagination only.

L earning of Hypocrisy

Slowly , when the poet grew in age he found that the world of adults was different . The adults are not what they seem to be . They pretend a lot. They are hypocrites who preach love and all good things but behave in a different manner . Slowly , he too began to learn this art and lost his childhood.

Individuality

Then , there came a time when the poet learnt the art of thinking independently . He  learnt that his mind is his own and he should apply it to think in his own original way . In short, he learnt that a man need not always be guided in his thinking by others . May be , it was that day when he learnt to be an individual that he lost his childhood.

Where has the Childhood gone?

In the last stanza , the poet does not think of the time he lost his childhood. He wants to know the place where he has lost it and where it can be found again . He cannot remember the place. However, when he looks at a child's face, he becomes sure that the place is hidden in that innocence. Thus , the poet concludes that the loss of innocence was the loss of childhood.